Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614), Follower Of - The Samaritan Woman At The Well (detail)

Oil on canvas. Original lined canvas. This small oil on canvas, executed with the technical delicacy characteristic of the French milieu around 1800, testifies to the enduring prestige of Lavinia Fontana, one of the most illustrious figures of the late Renaissance. The work captures an intimate detail of the iconography of Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well, probably inspired by a widely circulated European print or created by an apprentice artist during the obligatory trip to Naples, where Fontana's original was admired and extensively studied. This piece is not simply a copy of a famous composition, but a testament to the status of the Bolognese painter, whose renown transcended borders and centuries. From the 16th century onward, Fontana enjoyed unprecedented professional success, becoming the first woman to receive public commissions and to be admitted to the Academy of Saint Luke. This oil on canvas from the late 18th or early 19th century testifies to the enduring prestige of these pioneering women in the minds of enlightened collectors: owning a work by Fontana was, in addition to an act of religious devotion, a tribute to the exceptional nature of the artist, whose brushstrokes were considered capable of equaling the vigor and nobility of her male counterparts. The execution, with its restrained touch and palette that seeks the soft chiaroscuro of Neapolitan painting, highlights the gestural interaction between the figures, crystallizing this moment of spiritual revelation with an elegance that evokes both French academicism and Italian tradition. This is, in essence, a work that testifies to the lasting influence of classical models and to the way in which art history, from 1800 onwards, began to forcefully rehabilitate the names of those women who defied the conventions of their time. - Image dimensions without frame: 37 x 44 cm / 59 x 66 cm with exclusive custom frame.